Pulse, a raw mango flavoured tangy candy, launched by DS Group, makers of Rajnigandha Pan Masala and Catch Bottled Water, in mid-2015. Last month, the Re 1 candy clocked Rs 300 crore in sales, beating MNC blue chip munchie brands such as Oreo (Rs 283 crore in sales, launched in 2011) and Mars bars (Rs 270 crore in sales, launched in 2011). Pulse Candy looks like a sweet success compared to other MNC brands as well. Coca-Cola’s much advertised Coke Zero, launched in late 2014, has a sales figure of Rs 120 crore. Pulse’s brisk sales growth is more impressive considering the stiff competition in India. The sweet candy category is estimated at Rs 6,600 crore (hard boiled candies, mints and jellies), and is growing at 12-14% year-on-year. Existing hard boiled candy brands that Pulse competes with include Parle’s Mango Bite and Italian maker Perfetti Van Melle’s Alpenliebe, besides a slew of local brands.

Parle and Alpenliebe are established players for more than a decade. Pulse raced to the third spot in just over two years in a market where price competition is fierce and brand loyalties are fickle.

Industry and retail officials said the market disruption that Pulse candy caused is riding on taste, which worked despite deep-pocketed competition from Parle and Perfetti Van Melle, Italian makers of Alpenliebe. “Local taste that can produce a blockbuster…home-grown taste always finds acceptance faster if launched in new forms,” said Devendra Chawla, chief executive of Future Consumer.

Pulse was launched to capitalise on the fastest growing HBC (Hard-Boiled Candy) segment in the confectionery basket. As per the market research and insight firm Nielsen India, while the overall sweet candy category, pegged at Rs 6,000 crore, is growing at 14 per cent year-on-year, the Rs 2,100 crore HBC segment is growing at 23 per cent. Kaccha Aam (26 per cent) and Mango flavour (24 per cent) together claim 50 per cent share in the HBC market. Raw mango was thus, the obvious choice. The makers further realised that there were only straight flavours such as mango, orange and caramel in the market. Hence, there was a need for innovation.

In India, the common practice is to eat raw mango with something tangy. Whether it is ‘aam panna’ or a slice of raw mango sold on the roadside, it is incomplete without the tang/spices. That’s how we got the idea of a powder-filled candy

The Advertising Push – How Pulse Candy Captured the Market

The makers of Pulse believe that it is one of the most successful examples of brands built through word-of-mouth, with social media facilitating the reach. While the company pushed the candy through in-store promotions and an outdoor ad at select locations in NCR, its fans were active in the online world. The brand has, thanks to them, a presence on all social networking platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In fact, the catchphrase on the outdoor ad – ‘Pulse of India’ – was also suggested by them.

Source: ET News & AFaqs